Leave the Office on Time

Leaving Ready for the Rest of Your Day
Here's what you can do, on a typical weekday, to leave on time when you choose to:

1. Tell everyone that you have a personal commitment at 5:30 that evening. If you have a
child you could say that your child is in need of important parental assistance. Schedule
something for 5:30 that evening if it helps.

2. Mark on your calendar that you'll be leaving at five.

3. Sleep well the night before.

4. Eat a light lunch.

5. Strike a bargain with yourself at the start of the day, in late morning, in early
afternoon, and in late afternoon.

6. View any intrusion as merely part of the workday.

7. Once striking the bargain with yourself, don't add more items at the last minute.

8. Imagine how you'll feel when you leave right at closing time (however, there is no
reason for you to be staring at the clock for the last 45 minutes).

9. Ask a co-worker to walk you out at closing time.

Each 30 Minutes Count

Question: No matter how conscious I am of saving time throughout the day, I still find myself racing the clock. What, if anything, am I doing wrong?

Consider the following: any one-hour activity that you undertake in the course of the day will consume one solid year out of the next 24 years of your life. One hour is to 24 hours as one year is to 24 years. With this realization, consider the cumulative effects of reading junk
mail for only 30 minutes a day or spending 15 minutes a day in line at the bank--both of which could be avoided if you used mail, phone, or email services. Obviously there are some things that you couldn't or wouldn't want to give up and it is silly to apply this kind of arithmetic to activities such as personal hygiene. In general, however, each 30 minute segment of the day is valuable!

Got Breathing Space?

When you don't have, or feel you don't have, an extra moment to read philosophy, history, or science, when great literature, plays, and novels are as foreign to you as hieroglyphics, do you have any chance of seeing your work, career, or life in a new light?

Stop Piling, Start Filing

We are all soooo inundated these days! Instead of piling things on your desk, file them in the cabinet! Remove anything you can safely eliminate from your desktop. Items that you use on a daily basis, such as a stapler, a roll of tape, or pen, get to stay on top of your desk.

What you keep on top of your desk is uniquely individual. Your goal is to maintain the optimal number of items on and in your desk; enough so you function efficiently while there, but not so many that clutter inhibits work. Hold onto items you use at least once a week, but don't store those supplies too close by. Recognize that your desk drawers are not for storing supplies per se. You may store a pad of paper, but not pads of paper. You only need one pad at a time, and the general principle is to have the smallest number of a necessary item as you can get by with.

The fewer things you have in vital work spaces, the greater the sense of control you have over your immediate environment. For instance, if you choose to use one of your desk drawers for file folders, then these files should be as thin and potent as you can make them. Once your desk and flat surfaces are under control, you also gain a heightened sense of control over your time. Such a deal!

You may wish to place sentimental and familiar items, such as pictures, plants, and motivators near your desk, but not on it. Install items such as full spectrum lighting or ocean-wave music that support your productivity, efficiency, and creativity, near your work space, not on top of it.

From now on, manage your desktop as if it's one of the most important elements to staying organized, because it is.

Living Longer, Enjoying it Less

As a species, we live longer. The life span of the average caveman was 19 years. The life expectancy in Europe in 1392 was 38 years. The life expectancy in America in 1892 was 49. Today it is 74 for American men, 79 for women, and quickly rising for both sexes. Yet, for most people in our society, most days race by.

The faster we're able to travel or to gain new information, the greater our expectations regarding what can and needs to be accomplished in our lives. A day is still 24 hours but it seems to shrink in the face of more to do or higher expectations about what has to be done.

Time management is not the answer--it's too antiquated for the rapidly changing world. Instead, you and your fellow employees can recapture control of your lives:
* Reduce excess reading;
* Don't feel compelled to keep up with the news;
* Rest often; and most importantly,
* Handle your errands on weeknights--not on weekends.

Multi-Tasking is a Bad Idea

What happens when you jump between different projects at one time? It may feel dynamic -- after all, you're exerting lots of activity. There's a severe loss of productivity, however, because your brain works on one thing at a time. Multi tasking is fine for computers but not so great for human beings.

Although it may seem like you're working on several things at once, your brain is turning back and forth between the tasks. Switching from task to task is not as productive as staying on one job until it is completed. Studies have been published that indicate the harmful, long term effects of multi-tasking. Practice the art of doing one thing at a time!

On Being Too Busy

“If you’re too busy to enjoy your life, you are way too busy.” Jeff Davidson

The Stress of Airline Travel

It's all too obvious: Airline travel has become increasingly stressful in the last few years. Consider the following: Once you arrive at the airport grounds, there's the issue of parking the car, making your way to the shuttle, and so forth. The delays you can experience once you're actually at the airport can exceed the time it took you to get to the airport.

Inside the airport, you have to either check your bags, or, if you're wiser, use rolling luggage or all carry-ons and make your way directly through TSA "the system." You have to clear the line that already forming and ensure that you have the right ticket, and the right identification. Finally, it's time to get on the plane.

Once you board the plane, you have to sit in a chair that was designed to seat the greatest number of people possible in the plane's cabin, not for your comfort. The shoulder width of most seat backs is two to three inches fewer than the typical adult male's shoulder span. The leg room is nonexistent. Unless you choose the bulkhead row or emergency exit row, or happen to be in first-class, forget about having an enjoyable flight.

Then there's the forced air within the plane. The air is actually drier than most of the world's deserts. You get a tiny beverage served every 30 to 60 minutes.

If you're on a single aisle plane, making your way to the bathroom can be a hassle. The thought of stretching or getting any kind of exercise is nearly out of the question unless you're very adept at seated exercises. When you're about to begin eating, the pilot will announce, "We're heading into turbulence."

Don't Just Do Something

Don't just do something, sit there: Reading or merely looking out the window in contemplation could be the most important and productive activity you do today. Too often, people throw their time at tasks when they should be exerting more brain power.

The single best way to handle several different projects is to begin working on one thing at a time, until its completion, and then go on to the next project, and then the next, until you are finished.

Roasting the Sacred Cows

In my books and keynote speeches, I describe six "sacred cows"of time management that need to be forsaken.

The six "sacred cows" briefly listed below represent conventional time management wisdom. In contrast to each bit of "wisdom" are Breathing Space Principles that serve as action guides.

1. Handling Paper -- Wisdom: "Handle Each Piece of Paper Once."
2. Reducing Clutter -- Wisdom: "When in Doubt, Throw it Out."
3. Being More Efficient -- Wisdom: Speed Reading, Listening, Learning.

4. Beating the Competition -- Wisdom: "Work Smarter, not Harder."
5. Managing Your Schedule -- Wisdom: Use Sophisticated Scheduling Tools.
6. Staying Informed -- Wisdom: Read Key Executive Publications.

While time management was a set of rules that worked well in a relatively finite setting, Breathing Space principles will prove to be far more effective for the ever changing multi-variable situations that executives and managers face today.

Wasting the Most Precious Gift

Laura Cohen, a Wall Street Journal reader, in a letter to the editor writes, "How pitiful that people choose to spend the precious gift of time on virtual-reality games (Ref: "Is This Man Cheating on His Wife?" WSJ, Weekend Journal). I was troubled by this story all weekend. There are so many genuine needs of the community for people with so much spare time. Imagine what benefits could come from taking all that energy and using it to improve the world instead of indulging in behavior that is destructive to the family."

It would be hard to find a statement with which I agree more than Laura's.

Shorter Work Week

Here's a wonderful new blog, founded by Jeanette Watkins: Shorter Work Week on the web at www.shorterworkweek.blogspot.com. The blog offers some useful insights and information including links to "Take Back Your Time" and the "Work to Live Vacation."

The Right Tools, for the Right Job

Jerry Gitchel, president of Make Technology Work, explains the right tools for the right jobs for staying in touch with customers and associates.

* Instant Messaging from a computer or cell phone is best for a quick answer to a specific question.

* Telephone - best when used to brainstorm with others and for providing feedback on emotion and tone. It lacks the ability to archive or easily share info with a third party.

* Email - best for frequent non-urgent communications if you remember that they are not private. Easy to forward, lasts forever.

* The web - best when used to publish timeless information as desired, for current or future customers or associates.

* Audioconference - best for realtime communication and collaboration, enhanced when used with web-based documents.

* Online conferences - best when you need to add video capability to a group event. Lacks continuity between separate events.

* Online collaboration - best when used to create a comprehensive project management solution requiring document management, web publishing and/or support data, including images and video.

Too Busy to Exercise?

Edwin Bliss once wrote that if you are too busy to exercise, you are too busy. In your hierarchy of values, nothing can have higher priority than health, and if you find time for watching television but not for tennis or golf or jogging, you are violating the most basic rule of time management, which is to do the most important things first.

Maintaining Control

A reader asks: Many days I am in control for most of the morning and part of the afternoon, but then all of the sudden, like a train derailment, everything seems scattered and out of control.

I suggest that you take mental pauses throughout the day, particularly as new developments occur. The best laid plans often go astray and those people who are able to maintain control know when to let go of one activity and redirect their focus towards another.

Remember as well that being in control is more related to how you feel about the situation than the presence of evidence. Keep reminding yourself that you are, in fact, in control. Ten minutes before the end of the day if your boss springs a one-hour assignment on you that must be done immediately, you can regard this as a major intrusion in your day or you can see it as a professional challenge or an opportunity to demonstrate your overall value to your company. Make a note of the times you have taken on such challenges and bring them up particularly at raise times.

Before, during, and after handling the late assignment thrown on your lap, keep considering the many benefits of completing it. These include learning something new, practicing maintaining grace under fire, and serving as a reminder for you to discuss this type of situation with your boss so that it doesn't happen too frequently.

What we Cannot Control

A reader comments; “I could be more responsible regarding use of my time but certainly there are some things that are out of my control...”

Yes, for one thing your productive work life is finite. You will only be able to work for so many years at such and such a pace. One day that will no longer be possible. The big absolute, of course, is that life is finite and death is guaranteed, so far. If you are in your thirties, you have about 12,000 to 14,000 days and that's it.

Day to day, change is out of your control – it is guaranteed that how you used to do it or what worked yesterday will have less and less value with each passing day. You certainly want some stability in your life particularly in the areas of values and relationships, but don't fear change or close yourself off to it.

Feeling in Control

A Reader Asks: In your books you write that we are control and responsible for how our time is used each day, but I don't feel that way. How do I increase my feeling of control and sense of responsibility for how my time is consumed?

Begin to recognize your routine, time-guzzling behaviors such as ceremoniously arranging the items on your desk, over-reading the newspaper, or scouring the web. Next avoid playing the victim. Stop believing that external circumstances cause you to be time-pressed while not acknowledging your participation and willingness to be a victim. Finally take ownership; that is, lay claim and accept responsibility for what occurs in your life. "Own" your time.

Tickler Files

If you're overwhelmed by what crosses your desk, it's worth considering the benefits of having a file folder for each month of the year and a file folder for each day of the month. This idea, the "tickler file" system, has been in practice for years.

Create a file for days 1-31 of the month, and place it at the front of one of your file drawers. Behind that, have a file for each month of the year. If it's the second day of the month, for example, but you receive something that you won't need to deal with until the 15th, then put it in the file for, say, the 13th to allow yourself some slack. If anything comes in that you don't need to handle now, put it in your tickler file. This yields some immediate benefits. It keeps your desk clear and eliminates a lot of worry about where things go.

As the days and months go by, you continually take files that were in front and put them in the back. Once you get this system in place, you'll find that many of the things you file may not need to be acted on later. The benefits of this system are immediate.

Time Wasted on the Job

According to an online survey conducted by AOL and Salary.com, workers waste more than two hours a day on average by surfing the Web, conducting personal business, chatting with co-workers,and just zoning out.

Are You Racing the Clock?

No matter how conscious I am of saving time throughout the day, I still find myself racing the clock. What, if anything, am I doing wrong?

A. Consider the following example: any one-hour activity that you undertake in the course of the day will consume one solid year out of the next 24 years of your life. One hour is to 24 hours as one year is to 24 years.

B. With this realization, consider the cumulative effects of reading junk mail for only 30 minutes a day or spending 15 minutes a day in line at the bank – both of which could be avoided if you used mail, phone, or email services.

C. Obviously there are some things that you couldn't or wouldn't want to give up and it is silly to apply this kind of arithmetic to activities such as personal hygiene.

Avoid the Post-Vacation Slam

Would you like to minimize stress following your travels? Suppose your time away from the office is ending. Once back at work, you have a stack of phone messages on your desk. Your mail is eight inches high. There are memos, reports, and announcements all over the place. You experience extreme pressure to catch up. The moment you return, the whole
world seems to falls in on you.

The Remedy? Plan your trips so that you return before you announced you would. Include a "decompression" phase in your plans; your trip is not complete until you comfortably reintegrate yourself. Also:

* Take one less vacation day and build in a day for transition and decompression rather than coming back too abruptly.

* Avoid returning to work on a Monday; it's already a high-pressure day.

* Instruct others to handle or reroute as many phone calls as possible; and to segment your mail and other papers that come in. Return to a clean office and a clean desk.

* Unpack all your bags quickly. You may be tired, but the task will only be more burdensome later. Put all notes and papers in their place as soon as possible if you ever intend to act on them.

Parkinson's Law Repealed

Are you a staunch believer in Parkinson's Law, you know the old saying that "Work expands so as to fill the time allotted for its completion?" Yet, do you know anyone who consistently
has unscheduled, free stretches? In a time-poor society, Parkinson's Law is meaningless for many of us. Today it's more accurate to say "Items competing for one's attention expand
so as to fill the time and hinder work allocated for completion." So, I hereby repeal Parkinson’s Law.

Meanwhile, if you find yourself continually battling the clock, especially at work, try clearing your desk or work area of everything except what you need to complete the one project before you. Also, hold all calls and mail until you complete the project at hand. And if you have to, leave the workplace when you need to finish something important and cannot tolerate interruptions.

Deluded by too much TV!

Study Finds Japanese Watch Most TV

The average level of television consumption increased on nearly every continent last year, but a new study has found that Japanese viewers watch more TV than anybody.

The report from Eurodata TV Worldwide, the focus of a panel discussion at the MIPTV convention in Cannes, also found Americans' daily dose of TV climbed by three minutes last year to an average of four hours and 28 minutes -- nearly 90 minutes above the world average.

The Japanese watched the most television last year, clocking in a daily average of five hours. Americans were second, followed by Argentinians and the Greeks, who consumed four hours and 25 minutes and four hours and four minutes, respectively. At 2 1/2 hours daily each, China and Sweden watched the least amount of television last year.

Even though dramas accounted for 46 percent of viewers' time overall, and made a comeback stateside, American fiction failed to dominate outside of the domestic marketplace as it has in years past.

The MIP conference heard that the Eurodata document reveals that 46 percent of viewing time was dedicated to drama, 36 percent to other entertainment categories (talk, comedy, and variety shows) and 18 percent to news. Additionally, in terms of new formats, NBC's "The Apprentice" appeared to have found the most purchase globally.

The Trouble with Lists

Lists of time management tips can leave me cold. The notion that merely following some set of guidelines without understanding the magnitude of the situation relegates any such list,
however important, to the status of a temporary fix that will soon lose potency.

Understanding the "why" has an impact for those who are willing to make significant and lasting headway on the issue. It's no different than the U.S. response to fundamental Islamic terrorism; you have to get to the root of the issue before Al Qaeda and such groups can ever be quashed. Otherwise, you're continually attempting to put out brush fires as they appear. Consequently, there is no enduring list of "ten all-purpose ways" to fight terrorism.

With information management, or time management, for that matter, however satisfying such lists may be, ultimately they fall by the wayside. As a case in point, virtually every career professional has read at least one time management book and many articles, and all have encountered time management tips in list form. Yet virtually everyone remains continually
pressed for time. So, is the solution to retrieve one's list and apply it more diligently? Or would a more sound approach be to understand the pervasive nature of time pressure in our society, to take a big picture look at one's life and career, and begin to creatively address situations? I would opt for the latter every time!

Still, we all like lists. Realistically, though, in five to seven days, most people will not even be able to *find* whatever list you give them, however valuable they regarded it at one time. It is far better to strive to attain understanding of the issue than it is to add yet another list to the one's personal "collection." The best of both worlds might be to strive for understanding, then apply some guidelines from a list.

Those who insist on a list (really a magic wand) in a few weeks hence will be right back doing exactly what they've been doing, whereas those who tried to gain understanding will have the potential to achieve professional and personal breakthroughs!

Leaving the Office, part 2

In the first month when you've decided that each Tuesday will be a normal eight or nine hour workday and nothing more, you will automatically begin to be more focused about what you want to get done on Tuesdays. Almost imperceptibly you begin to parcel out your time during the day more judiciously. So, at midday stop and assess what you've done and what else you'd like to get done.

Near the end of the day assess what more you realistically can get done and what's best to leave for subsequent days.

Recruit Others: Once you've solidly made the decision to leave on time, say on Tuesdays, every cell in your body works in unison to help you accomplish your proclamation. A natural, internal alignment starts in motion. Your internal cylinders fire in harmony with what it takes for you to have a buoyant, productive work day on Tuesday and leave on time. To ensure that you get out on time, let others know about your plans.

Strike a bargain with yourself. Suppose it's 2:45 p.m. and there are three more items you'd like to accomplish before the day is over. Ask yourself: "What would it take for me to feel good about ending work on time today?" This phrase gives you the freedom to feel good about leaving the office on time because you struck a bargain with yourself wherein you said exactly what you needed to accomplish in order to leave on time and feel good about it.

Re-strike the Bargain. Suppose you have three items on your plate that you want to finish so that you can feel good about leaving on time. Then the boss drops a bomb on your desk late in the day. Strike a new bargain with yourself, given the prevailing circumstances. Your new bargain may include simply making sufficient headway on the project that's been dropped in your lap, or accomplishing two of your previous tasks and X percent of this new project.

Leave Work Ready for Life

When you consistently work longer hours or take work home from the office you begin to forget what it's like to have a free week night and eventually a free weekend. To sustain the habit of leaving work on time, start with a small step.

Leave without guilt. Hereafter decide that on, say, every Tuesday you will stop working on time and take no extra work home with you. After freeing up Tuesdays for an entire month, perhaps add Thursdays. In another month add Mondays, and in the fourth month add Wednesdays.

Equations that Matter

On the issue of Wealth versus Poverty:

* No leverage is a form of waste

* No leverage = poverty

* Poverty = expending energy with little results

* High leverage = wealth

* Wealth = expending minimal energy with grand results

Key Chain Blues

Every day I see the people of my neighborhood drive up to the mail box stand, then turn off their car so that they can get their keys out of the ignition. Then they open their mailbox with the mailbox key which is part of their overall key chain, close their mailbox door, insert the car
ignition key, and drive on.

After hundreds and hundreds of times of doing this, you would think that one of them might stumble upon the notion that since they always get the mail when they're in their car, there's no reason to have the mail key as part of the same key chain that holds the car key. Their mail key could be housed independently someplace in the car. where no one else would know what it is. and be used at the appropriate moment to open the box, while keeping the car on, and then driving off.

You wonder, if they can't figure out this component of getting things done, what else can they
not figure out?